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10 months ago  ::  Sep 11, 2012 - 4:44PM #1
22_Over_7
Date Joined: Feb 1, 2008
Posts: 3,472
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...

Played this mod for the first time this weekend.  Despite using old damage expressions, it's still tough.  Somehow we got corraled into a PC start box for the final encounter, and all the recharges hit.  I think we still might have succeeded, but the game store was going to close up, and the leader gave up on the encounter right around the time the first "remove-from-play" attack was employed (and not until the 2nd or 3rd round - restraint!).  We had to...er...fall back to a more defensible position.

I kind of feel like the reflavored Minotaur Shaman needs to be fixed, though (even though we got through that encounter OK) - just because there was a typo in the Compendium at the time, doesn't behoove the author and the editors to allow it through, since the primary source had conflicting text.  But, this is me complaining about a 2-3 year old mod, when the campaign has more pressing concerns.

I had a good time with the NPCs/RP-elements, though.  Not sure I would recommend this to everyone.
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 11, 2012 - 5:17PM #2
kilpatds
Date Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 5,025
Er, I wouldn't say all the recharges hit.  Just BBEG's "no, I think I didn't get hit" one.  That one hit every frigging time (cause I rolled it at the table). The others I mostly prerolled, and tried to avoid too much bunching up.

That said, there are a lot of pretty darn swing-y reroll powers.  Enough that I think stasticially one of them will recharge "too often" (Including the "No I didn't get hit" power, I count 3 to 4 powers that, if they recharge multiple times, can lead to an overly challenging encounter.  And since some of those are recharge 5+ (all of them?  Away from module) that seems like >50% odds that one of those powers will recharge "too much")

And yes... I should have sat down to basically redo the whole thing in large part before hand.  (W/o the shaman's "at-will", the 1st combats way too ... nothing.  So it needs to be made fairer, and then also MM3-ized.  Pretty much the same for most of the other encounters)  Sorry about that.
"Nice assumptions. Completely wrong assumptions, but by jove if being incorrect stopped people from making idiotic statements, we wouldn't have modern internet subculture." Kerrus

Practical gameplay runs by neither RAW or RAI, but rather "A Compromise Between The Gist Of The Rule As I Recall Getting The Impression Of It That One Time I Read It And What Jerry Says He Remembers, Whatever, We'll Look It Up Later If Any Of Us Still Give A Damn." Erachima
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 11, 2012 - 8:39PM #3
Bargle0
Date Joined: Aug 21, 2008
Posts: 675
The one time I ran this, the Wizard got off a single round of actions in the entire mod. She spent the rest of the time dead or banished.

I don't think it will get run again any time soon.
I killed Aleena.
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 13, 2012 - 3:20AM #4
Fardiz
Date Joined: Dec 22, 2010
Posts: 2,291
I love this mod; alongside SPEC1-3p1, it is one of a very small mods that actually provide a tactical challenge.
Back to Basics - A Guide to Basic Attacks

You might be playing DnD wrong if...

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Albert Einstein
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 14, 2012 - 12:22PM #5
Pauper
Date Joined: May 29, 2001
Posts: 827
Agree with Fardiz -- DALE 1-6 is one of my favorite mods in all of LFR. It has a well-designed skill challenge with RP elements thrown in, plus a story where the PCs make significant decisions and have the change to impact the development of the campaign world. That final combat can be very swingy, though, both based on recharge rolls and on how prepared the party is for the challenge.

Spoiler: Show
For instance, a wizard with Mass Resistance available can make a huge difference in how much of an impact the harpy has on the combat.


Thanks for pointing out that the damage expressions are still pre-MM3 -- will need to point that out to the next run.

--
Pauper

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10 months ago  ::  Sep 14, 2012 - 12:51PM #6
Keithric
  • Senior Volunteer Community Lead
Date Joined: Aug 19, 2007
Posts: 5,165
Remember that part of MM3-izing is reducing crowd control, in addition to increasing damage.
Keith Richmond
Living Forgotten Realms Epic Writing Director
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 23, 2012 - 6:43PM #7
Hibiki54
Date Joined: Sep 8, 2008
Posts: 1,103
WTF, still talking about this mod's difficulty?

Just be lucky you were not the ones playtesting it. As it is now, it's just a roleplaying mod. LOL
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 24, 2012 - 6:17AM #8
logopolis
  • Dragon Slayer
Date Joined: Jul 22, 2008
Posts: 1,924
I played this once before, and it was pretty hard, as I recall.

I do have one question about Encounter 4:

Spoiler: Show
The eladrin battle shaman lists spirit of nature's rage as an at-will ability. However, the orginal monster in the Compendium (minotaur battle shaman) lists it as a 5-6 recharge ability.

Is this an error in the mod, or an intentional change? Being able to make all or most of the PCs attack each other every round, multiple times, greatly increases the difficulty of the encounter.
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10 months ago  ::  Sep 24, 2012 - 9:10AM #9
kilpatds
Date Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 5,025
At the time of the module's creation, the compendium listed it as "at-will".  It was playtested as "At-Will" and released in the same way.

Of course, the card had it as  recharge 5+.  The compendium was in error.  So they fixed it in the compendium (I suspect heavily this module was relevant in bringing attention to the issue).

But I do believe the stat block in the module is as-intended.  (And that stat block is also kinda lame.  Take away the creatures nice trick, and the encounter falls apart into mush.  I think they need to have an appropriately powered AoE for the encounter to function.)
"Nice assumptions. Completely wrong assumptions, but by jove if being incorrect stopped people from making idiotic statements, we wouldn't have modern internet subculture." Kerrus

Practical gameplay runs by neither RAW or RAI, but rather "A Compromise Between The Gist Of The Rule As I Recall Getting The Impression Of It That One Time I Read It And What Jerry Says He Remembers, Whatever, We'll Look It Up Later If Any Of Us Still Give A Damn." Erachima
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8 months ago  ::  Nov 17, 2012 - 11:37PM #10
Dodecahedron
Date Joined: Jan 26, 2005
Posts: 960
This is one of those adventures where it is important to make the knowledge
check about the monster, to know that you need to take down that one first.
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